Note: I'm a bit weary of putting a question mark for how long this will be (because I don't have the greatest track record for finishing those)…but I think it'll be longer than one installment.

"Do we dare to cross that line between your heart and mineOr would I lose a friend or find a love that would never endWhat if I said…"- Anita Cochran, What If I Said

Annie stood looking at herself in profile in the full length mirror on her bathroom door. She tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear, and smoothed her dress. It was kind of silly how much effort she'd put into her appearance for this date—it wasn't like she was going to impress Auggie with how she looked. Still, she wanted to look nice on his arm. She was sure he'd arrive looking sharp. It was also ridiculous that she was nervous about tonight at all. How many times had she and Auggie gotten dinner together? Too many to count. But always at Allen's or takeout, never somewhere she'd wear a dress like this.

"Walker!" he called out from the courtyard below. "You ready?"

He had insisted on picking her up. She would have been happy to drive them like she usually did, but it seemed important to him, and she didn't really care, so she shrugged and said sure.

"You're early!" she shouted back. "I'll be down in a minute!" She gave herself one more look in the mirror, and headed down to meet him.

"Where is your coat?" he demanded, hands running down her bare arms as she kissed him quickly on the way to the car.

"Well, we're going to get dropped off right at the door, right? So I figured I didn't need one—unless you have something planned where I do?" She didn't know exactly what he had planned.

"No," he laughed. "But bare arms in November?"

"This dress wouldn't look right with a coat," she explained as he opened the door for her.

"Ah, so you're suffering in silence?"

"I'm fine," she assured him.

"You seem taller," he told her.

"I've got a fancier pair of shoes on," she grinned.

"Don't you wear your fancy shoes every day?"

"I do," she laughed. ""But not heels this tall—usually." She scooted over and he climbed in beside her.

"Just how absurd are these shoes?"

She could have just taken her shoe off and handed it to him, but instead she lifted her leg onto his lap. He smirked as he grazed his knuckles along the expanse of bare skin below her hem—it was a pretty short dress, so that was pretty high up. Much higher than one could reasonably expect to find a shoe.

"I don't think you're going to find it there," she laughed as his fingers grazed her inner thigh.

"Oh, right," he smiled. "Shoe." He slid his hand down the smooth skin of her calf, and she inhaled sharply. That felt nice. She watched him examine her shoe in his hands. He shook his head. "That's one hell of a shoe."

"It's pretty fierce."

"That's one word for it," he laughed. She swatted his arm. He was now examining under the ball of her foot. "What is going on here?"

"It's got a bit of a platform," she grinned.

"A bit?" he asked in amusement. "Just high are these shoes?"

"Four and a half inches."

He shook his head. "I bet they look good, even if they feel absurd." She smiled. His hand was inching its way back up her bare leg. "No stockings," he noted.

"Stockings are annoying," she told him. "They get in the way."

He let out a throaty chuckle. "In the way of what exactly?"

"Lots of things," she teased.

"I see…" His hand slid higher on her thigh, decidedly under her hemline now.

She squealed as his knuckles grazed a particularly ticklish spot. In the front seat, the driver remained focused on the road. If he heard what they were talking about-and he surely did—his face gave nothing away. Very professional. Annie grabbed Auggie's hand and slid it back down to safer territory. "Not in the car," she hissed quietly.

"He won't say anything."

"You know this from experience?"

He shrugged.

"Auggie!"

"Once or twice," he laughed. "I tipped him well."

"Still," she shook her head. "I feel like you'd have to be pretty damn drunk not to care that there's someone else…"

"Oh, totally trashed," he chuckled.

"I am not drunk yet," she reminded him as he began to kiss his way down her neck.

He slid his hand along her jawbone, turning her face toward him. Her eyes closed as he leaned in to kiss her properly. It was all still new enough to make her giddy. They were having a lot of fun exploring the new physical aspect of their relationship. So far there had been a lot of sex, and not a lot of talking. That's what tonight was for. Talking.

The idea of formally defining what this was is what scared her. Did they really need to? She wasn't entirely convinced they did. It had been fun winging it the last few days.

The more she researched the matter in the file from Henry Wilcox, the more she realized it was going to be incredibly hard to keep it from Auggie, and she had to. It was always hard to keep things from him, but now, doubly so. Lying was not the best way to start a new romantic relationship, but she had to make it work and hope he didn't end up hating her for it. She and Auggie could never do a romantic relationship halfway. It had to be all or nothing. And that scared the hell out of her.

She wished that the two events had happened in reverse. She liked to think that she would have turned down Henry Wilcox if what happened with her and Auggie had happened before that meeting. The file still fired her up though, so who knows what she really would have done.

His lips were soft against hers, a nice gentle kiss promising more later. His hand slid up her thigh, and she was tempted to suggest they skip dinner. She'd be happy to have fun for a while and then make grilled cheese at nearly midnight, like they did the night before, but he was so eager to take her out on a real date. And truly, she was excited too. This was so different for them. She was curious to see where he'd picked.

"Get your hand out of there," she laughed, as his hand found its way under her skirt once again.

"You don't like?" he asked, not moving his hand.

"Oh, I like. But I'm assuming you still want to go to dinner first," she teased. "If not…"

He sighed and removed his hand from under her hem.

She patted his cheek and pulled her legs off of his, straightening her dress. "Ooh, we're downtown. Where-?"

"I didn't want to just go somewhere fancy. I wanted to take you somewhere interesting, and I love Turkish and Lebanese food-"

"Zaytinya?" Annie asked eagerly.

"Well, that's a good sign," Auggie exhaled. For as randy as he'd been a minute ago, he sounded surprisingly nervous about this dinner part too.

"I have wanted to try there forever."

"Me too," he smiled.

"You sound nervous," she said, as if she wasn't also.

He chuckled wryly. "Yeah, I guess so. This is different for us."

"It is."

"It doesn't freak you out a little?"

"A little…" she admitted.

"Uh huh…" he smiled. He knew she was more nervous than she was letting on. The car came to a stop at the curb in front of the restaurant. "Ready?"

"Let's do this."

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.